Surfacing and polishing machine.



PATBNTED OCT. 24, 1905. LT. H. PRUGH & S. B. ZIMMBR. SURFAOING AND POLISHING MACHINE.

A. T. SPENOE APPLICATION FILED MAY 11. 1904.

3 SHBETS-SHEET 1.

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No. 802,604. PATENTED OCT. 24, 1905. A. T. SPENOE, J. H. PRUGH & S. B. ZIMMER. SURFAOING AND POLISHING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 11. 1904.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

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No. 802,604. PATENTED OCT. 24, 1905- A. T. SPENCE, J. H. PRUGH & S. B. ZIMMER.

SURFAGING AND POLISHING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 11. 1904.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 8.

m H w Mfizesses UNITED surges PATENT OFFICE.

AARON T. SPENGE, JOHN H. PRUGH, AND SAMUEL BLAIR ZIMMER, OF

OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA.

SURFACING AND POLISHING MACHINE.

' Application filed ma 11,1904. Serial No. 207,406. v l

To all whom it may (o/1.00772..-

Be it known that we, AARON T. SPENCE, J OHN H. PRUGH, and SAMUEL BLAIR ZIMMER, citizens of the United States, residing at Oak- 5 land,inthecountyofAlamedaandStateofCalifornia, have invented new and useful Improvementsin Surfacing and Polishing Machines,

v of which the following is a specification;

' Our invention relates to an apparatus which I is designed for producing even surfaces and cleaning or polishing any surface to which such an apparatus may be applicable.

It consists in certain combinations of mechanism with details of construction which will be more fully explained by reference to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a side view of the machine.

- Fig. 2 is a rear end'view of same. Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section of machineon line C D of Fig. 4. Fig. 4 is a plan of machine with table removed. Fig. 5 .is a view of gripping device'in polishing-rollers. Fig. 6 is a section through same. ig. 7 is a View, partly in section, of reverse gears and clutch. Fig. 5 8 is a front view of same. Fig. 9 is a view of spreader. Fig. 10 is a view of dust-arrester. Fig. 11 is a view of mechanism for raising and lowering polishing-rollers. Fig. 12 is anenlarged longitudinal section view of 3 one of the rollers or drums. Fig. 13 is acrosssectional view of the same on the line G H of Fig. 12.

' This apparatus is applicable either in positions where the apparatus may remain stationary and the surfaces to be treated are caused to pass the apparatus, or it may be employed to travel over surfaces which themselves are stationary. In the present case we have shown the invention as applied to a 4 traveling apparatus.

A represents a body or frame upon which the operative parts of the apparatus are car ried. This frame is supported upon driving and steering wheels, as at 2 and 3. Power is transmitted from any suitable motor, as at 4, through a gearing to be hereinafter more fully described, and thence to the drivingwheels, so that the apparatus may be caused to travel over the surface. Rollers or drums 5 5, having a suitable surfacing or polishing pe- Specification of Letters Patent.

. when brought together.

are mounted the eccentrics l2, and these eccenj Patented Oct. 24, 1905.

between such rollers and the motor they are revolved so that their peripheries act upon the surface in the required manner.

A novel feature of our present invention is comprised in a meansfor coveniently apply- 5 ing the proper material to the peripheries of the polishing drums or rollers.

For the'purpose of providing an even surface and to polish wooden floors and the like sandpaper or some equivalent thereof has been found to be very efl'icient. In order to' secure 5 such material upon the drums, it is cut into suitable length and width, so that it will sur f1 round the drum,and the material is sufficiently longer than the circumference of thedrum so that its edges may be turned inwardly through a slot, as at 6, which extends lengthwise of the drum, and this slot may stand at an angle with the plane of the axis of the drum. Interior to this slot are jaws 7, which are pref: erably corrugated upon their contiguous faces,"-'- so as to form efiicient contacting surfaces These jaws have alength substantially equal to that of the drum and are mounted upon lever-arms 8 and 9. 5 These arms are mounted upon a rod or shaft 10, and the opposite ends of the arms 8 eX-' tend beyond this support and are enlarged, so as to fit around the shaft 11. Upon this shaft .1

trics are turnable with the shaft in correspond- 5 ing openings made in the ends of the levers 8 whichfitaroundtheshaft,sothatbyturningthe" shaft the eccentrics will act upon these levers arms to separate or close the jaws 7 One of the jaws 7 fits closely against one side of open? ing made in the drum, as shown, and the op posite jaw being movable within this opening can be separated from the stationary jaw sufficiently to allow the inturned edges of the material which covers the drum to be inserted, and the material being drawn substantially tight around the drum by turning the shaft 11 the eccentrics 12 will be moved so as to force the jaw carried by the levers 8 into con; tact with the stationary jaw, thus drawing the, I00 covering material tight around the drum and 5; clamping it securely in place. \Vhenever the material is worn or it is de- 5 sirable to replace it, it is only necessary to reverse the movement of the shaft, and by means of a pin 13, projecting from the eccentric, and a similar pin 14:, contiguous thereto in the lever 8, the reverse movement of the shaft will l l l be raised above the surface.

cause the pins to contact, and thus separate the jaws and release the covering material, which can then be easily removed.

In order to transport the machine over surfaces where it is not desired to work or to move such surfaces withv relation to the sta tionary machine. it is desirable to temporarily raise the surfacing-rollers 5. For this purpose these rollers or drums are carried in journals at the ends of lever-arms 15, which are suitably fulerumed to the frame at points intermediate between the drums and the inner ends of the rollers, as shown at 16.

17 is a lever fulcrumed to the frame, having one end fulcrumed t the frame or a standard, as at 18, and the opposite end is normally depressed by a sufficiently strong spring 19. Intermediate between the ends this lever has an upward curvature, as at 20.

21 is a link connecting the lever 17 with a lever 22, and this lever 22 acts upon the inner contiguous ends of the levers 15, upon the outer ends of which the drums are journaled, so that by the depression of the inner ends of these levers the drums will be raised from the surface, and by an opposite movement the drums will be depressed and allowed to rest upon the surface, so as to properly operate.

23 is a hand-lever within convenient reach of the operator and movable over a segmental rack, as at 24;, this lever being fulcrumed substantially central of the segment. The lower end of the lever has a pin or lug, as at 25, and when the lever 23 is in a vertical position this pin will rest directly upon the upward curvature 0f the lever 17, thus depressing this endof the lever against the tension of the spring 19. This depression acts, through the link 21,to also depress the lever 22, and through its connection with the inner ends of the lever arms 15 these levers will be similarly acted upon and the drums 5 in their outer ends will When the lever 23 is moved in either direction so as to remove the lug or pin 25 from the line of the outward curvature or projection 20, the spring or springs 19 will act to move the various levers so as to cause the drums carrying the surfacing material to rest upon the surface to be acted upon with a yielding pressure, and the revolution of these drums while in this position and the traveling of the carriage or the surface, as the case may be, will present all desired parts of the surface to be acted upon by the polishing material carried by the drums. The movement of the lever 23 either forward or back with relation to its vertical position will act, through a suitable reversing mechanism and clamp, to drive the machine either forward or back, as may be desired. This action is effected as follows: The lower end of the lever 23 is connected with one arm of a bell-crank lever 27. The angle of this lever is pivoted or fulcrumed, as at 28, and

"A of the machine.

the other arm of the lever is forked or other' wise adapted to engage with a dependent clutch-lever 29, which is:,freely slidable upon a shaft 30, this shaft being secured to the bed The forked end of this lever engages with the groove or channel 31, formed centrally between the cl utch-actuating wedges 32. As shown in the drawings, there are two of these wedges projecting from each end of the cylindrical sleeve in which the channel 31 is formed, and this wedge-carrying sleeve is loosely slidable upon the shaft 33.

3a 34 are beveled gears loosely turnable upon the shaft33, and these bevel-gears normally engage with the bevel-pinion 35,which is mounted upon the driving-shaft36, through which power is transmitted from the motor. By reason of the gears 34 34: turning loosely upon the shaft no motion would be communicated to the shaft 33, upon which the driving-wheels of the apparatus are fixed, unless said gears are caused to engage with the shaft. In conjunction with these gears and,

as here shown, forming substantially a part with the gears are hollow drums 37. Within these drums are elastic segmental bands 38, one end of each band being fixed to a radial arm, as 39, which projects outwardly from the hub 40, keyed to the shaft 33. Thus one of these elastic segments 38 has one end fixed to an arm 39 and extends around within the cylindrical drum 37 and in close proximity to its inner periphery and terminates near to the opposite radial arm 39, and the other segment in like manner is secured to the last-named arm 39 and completes the circle to a point in close proximity with the fixed end of the previously-named segment. The two segments are separated at these meeting ends, so that the free ends of each segment may be forced outwardl y. In order to force these free ends of the segment outwardly, and thus cause substantiall y the entire length of both segments to bind within the drums 37, we have shown lever-arms 41, pivoted or fulcrumed to the radial arms 39 and curving around within the segments 38, as shown. The hubs 40 within each of the drums 37 have open slots or channels &2, and these slots or channels coincide in position with the ends of the tapering wedges 32, carried by the movable sleeve previously described, so that the points of these wedges normally lie in the channels 42, and when by means of the forked arm 29 engaging with the groove 31 the sleeve and wedges are moved in one direction upon the shaft 33 the, greater thickness of the wedges 32 will be brought to engage with the long arms of the levers 41, and thus turn these arms outward about their pivot-pins 4C3. In order to adjust these parts so that they shall work in unison and to increase or decrease the clutching effect of the elastic segments, we have shown screws 44 passing through the ends of the levers 4:1, and the wedges 32 contact with the ends of these screws, and thus turn the levers 41.

The short arms of the levers have shoulders formed, as at 45, and these shoulders being eccentric to the pivots 43 it will be seen that an outward movement of the lever-arms 41, caused by the forcing of wedges 32 between them, will advance the shoulders 45 in arcs of which the pivot-pins 43 are the centers.

46 are thrust-bars fixed to each of the free ends of the elastic segments 38, and the inner ends of these thrust-bars are in the line of movement of the shoulders 45 of the levers 41, and as these segments lie closely within the peripheries of the drums 37 it will be seen that when the sliding sleeve is moved so as to force one pair of wedges 32 between the hub and the long arms of the levers 41 the short arms and shoulders 45, acting against the thrust-bars 46, will force the free ends of the segments substantially in their line of peripheral curvature, and this causes substantially the entire periphery of these segments to be forced into contact with the interior of the drum to which they belong, thus locking the drum and the bevel-gear 34 to the shaft 33, and as the pinion 35 is always in engagement with both the gears 34 34 the one which is locked to the shaft will actuate the shaft, while the other revolves freely.

By reversing the movement of the lever 23 the bell-crank lever 27 acts upon the sliding clutch-lever 29 and through this upon the wedge-carrying hub, thus moving the previously-engaged wedges out of engagement with the levers 41 at that side and the opposite wedges 32 into engagement with the clutchactuating levers of the other bevel-gear, as 34, and this will release the first bevel-gear and engage the second one, and thus reverse the revolution of the. shaft and the travel of the apparatus. By this means the machine may be moved backward and forward over a given surface while the rubbing or polishing rollers are revolved, as previously described, and by means of the steering-roller in front the machine can be gradually moved to other parts of the floor as one portion is finished.

The operation of the polishing or cleaning surfaces produces a considerable quantity of dust, and we have designed a means for removing said dust as fast as it is produced and prevent its being subsequently deposited upon the floor or walls of the room. This removing device consists of a hood 48, having a length substantially equal to the length of the surfacing-roller, and its front edge is curved to substantially the peripheral curvature of the roller, so that it may lie close to the face of the roller and as close as possible to the floor or surface over which the machine is being moved. This head is preferably divided by partitions, as at 49, into separate channels, and these all converge and ultimately unite in a pipe or passage 50. This pipe or passage connects either directly or through the medium of a second pipe 50 with a suction-fan or blower, as at 51. This fan is conveniently located upon the machine and has a dischargepipe at 52, which is adapted to deliver into a dust-receiving receptacle 53. This receptacle may preferably be made of some fibrous material of sufficiently close weave to prevent the dust from escaping, at the same time allowing the air to pass through it.

The efficiency of the device may be increased by moistening the fabric, so that escape of dust will be more certainly prevented.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A surfacing-machine consisting of a bed or body, supporting and steering wheels, surfacing-rollers, fulcrumed levers between the shorter arms of which said rollers are journaled, other spring-pressed levers connecting with the roller-carrying levers, said second levers having a convex curvature in the longer arm, a hand-lever having a roller journaled thereon and movable over the convexity of said second lever and acting therethrough to raise or depress the surfacing-rollers.

2. In a surfacing-machine, rollers havinga periphery adapted to operate upon the surface, lever-arms in one end of which said rollers are journaled and a support for said levers, a hand-lever and holding-rack, a' roller carried by said lever, a third lever intermediate be tween the roller-carrying levers and the handlever, said lever having a curvature upon which the roller of the hand-lever acts to depress said third lever and raise the rollers, and a spring connected with said third lever, and normally acting to retain the rollers in contact with the surface.

3. A surfacing-machine having rollers journaled in fulcrumed lever-arms, a second fulcrumed-lever connection between said lever and the roller-carrying levers, and a spring acting to normally retain the rollers in contact with the surface, a hand-lever, a contact-roller carried thereby movable over the spring-pressed lever so as to overcome the tension of the spring and raise the rollers from the surface and a supplemental foot-piece and connecting-rod whereby the roller-carrying levers may be independently raised.

4. The combination in asurfacing-machine. of revoluble surfacing-rollers, means whereby said rollers are normally maintained in contact with the surface, and means for disengaging said rollers from the surface, a car and bearing and steering wheels upon which it is mounted, means for d riving and reversing said car, said means comprising a bevel driving-pinion, drums loosely mounted upon a shaft and carrying bevel-gears, with both of which the pinion engages, elastic segments and hubs having arms upon which said segments are carried within the peripheries of the drums, levers engaging the free ends of the segments and a sleeve loosely mounted upon the drum-shaft having wedges projecting from opposite ends, said wedges adapted to engage the long arms of the segment-actuating levers substantially as described.

5. The combination in a surfacing-machine of a car or bed with bearing-wheels, surfacing-rollers mounted upon levers, means by which said rollers are maintained in contact with the surface to be acted upon or raised therefrom, a motor-driven bevel-pinion, bevel-gears with both of which said pinion is in constant engagement, drums turnable loosely upon the main wheel-shaft, internal elastic segments having one end carried by a hub revoluble with a shaft, fulcrumed levers, thrust-bars fixed to the free ends of the segments against which the short arms of the levers contact, a loosely-turnable sleeve mounted upon the shaft between the drums and hav ing wedges projecting from its ends, said wedges slidable in channels in the hub and adapted to engage the segment-actuating levers whereby the latter are expanded to clutch the drums, and a clutch-lever engaging the wedge-carrying sleeve and means for actuating said lever.

6. The combination in a surfacing-machine, of a car or body, bearing-wheels therefor, a motor and mechanism comprising a bevelpinion and bevel gears mounted upon the bearing-wheel shaft and in engagement with said bevel-gear, a clutch mechanism by which either of the bevel-gears is engaged with the shaft, and the car driven in one direction or the other, revoluble surfacing-rollers mount.- ed upon levers, means-for raising or depressing said rollers with relation to the surface to be operated upon, a hand-lever by which said rollers are raised or lowered and mechanism connecting said hand-lever with the drivingclutch mechanism whereby the rollers are raised when change of direction is to be made.

7. In a surfacing and polishing machine, a carriage with supports by which it is maintained in relation to a surface, a roller having an abrading-surface, springs by which said roller is normally maintained in contact with the surface, and a lever and intermediate mechanism by which the roller is raised against the tension of the springs.

8. In a surfacing and polishing machine, a frame supported with relation to the surface to be acted on, independently-movable abrading-rollers, springs by which the rollers are normally maintained in contact with the surface, and a lever with intermediate connections and a stop with which the lever is engaged to raise the rollers from the surface.

In testimony whereof we have hereunto set our hands in presence of two subscribing Wit- DGSSGS.

AARON T. SPENCE. JOHN H. PRUGH. SAMUEL BLAIR ZIMMER.

Witnesses:

M. L. SoHLUE'rER, NAT L. MAYO. 

